


Protective Kelly

by byericacameron



Series: Canon AU [12]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fights, M/M, Mild Blood, Minor Injuries, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2459918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byericacameron/pseuds/byericacameron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People always underestimate Kelly. They don't see him as a threat, but the fastest way to bring out the deadly side of Kelly Abbott is to threaten Nick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Protective Kelly

It was one of Nick’s last cases to close before his resignation from the Boston P.D. became official. Unfortunately this one wasn’t fucking giving him a break. Leads dead-ended left and right, the family of the victim was scattered across the state, the guy himself had more enemies than he had friends, and it seemed like even strangers this guy met in the street had a motive to kill the bastard.

“You’re letting this one get to you, Lucky.” Kelly dropped into the chair next to Nick’s desk.

“Don’t start with that right now,” Nick warned. His mind felt like it was trapped in a tilt-o-whirl. Or a busted centrifuge with all the little bits and pieces of this damn case spinning and spinning as he tried like hell to separate the relevant from the absolutely fucking useless.

Kelly shook his head and stood, holding out his hand. “C’mon.”

Taking Kelly’s hand was so natural Nick didn’t even realize he’d done it until he was being pulled out of his seat. “Kels, I can’t. I’m working.”

“No. You’re taking the night off.” Kelly glanced at him over his shoulder and smirked. “What are they going to do, Nicko? Fire you?”

Nick snorted. “No, but seriously. I just want this shit done with. I want it off my desk so I can turn in my badge and be done.”

“Exactly.” Kelly never stopped walking and Nick knew he’d be dragged along if he didn’t follow willingly. “If you don’t back away from this you’re going to give yourself a heart attack and I’ll have to save your ass again and just trust me, okay? One night of decompressing is not going to be a bad thing.”

The smile when he said those words heated Nick’s blood faster than propane on a fire. Nick knew that particular smile very well by now. He always liked where that smile ended up.

“Lead on, babe.”

Kelly laughed. “Smart boy.”

Once they left the precinct, Kelly didn’t head toward the parking lot and Nick’s Range Rover. Instead he walked toward a side street where there were a couple bars they’d gotten in the habit of hitting after Nick’s shift.

“You plannin’ to get me drunk, Kels?”

“Drinks may be involved in the plan, but I’m not banking on drunk. I know your tolerance too well, Irish. I want to actually be coherent tomorrow morning, thank you anyway.”

Nick tightened his grip on Kelly’s hand and pulled him closer, twisting his boyfriend’s arm behind his back until they were standing pressed against each other in the middle of the sidewalk. “I don’t know. I kind of like you drunk.” He grinned and brushed a teasing kiss against Kelly’s lips. “You’re even more pliable than usual.”

Kelly shivered slightly even as he rolled his eyes. “Like you don’t twist me into a pretzel most nights regardless.”

“Damn straight.” Nick laughed and stole one more kiss before letting Kelly move. He still didn’t release his hand, though.

It was already dark, so the only lights came from the headlights of passing cars and the businesses and bars lining the street. They walked on, Kelly talking about an email he’d gotten from one of his old campers. Nick knew the level of detail Kelly was going into was just for the sake of distraction, but he didn’t call him on it. It was kind of adorable how hard Kels was working to get Nick’s mind off the case.

Not that Nick would ever actually tell Kelly that.

He was mildly surprised when Kelly passed their usual hangouts, but then he spotted a particular set of neon lights ahead and had to bite back a groan.

“Kels, really?”

Kelly’s answering grin was entirely unrepentant. “Yes. Really. And you don’t get to try to argue me out of it tonight, Lucky.”

It wasn’t a gay bar, but Flashpoint was very much a mind-your-own-business establishment. Kelly had dragged Nick there a time or two when he’d visited Boston and though Nick had complained every single time, the nights had always ended with both of them sweaty and sated. So maybe just shutting up and going along for the ride would be a good idea tonight.

The place was crowded for a Thursday night, but the strobing, multi-colored lights and the mirrors on half of the walls made it hard to get a real feel for the place.

 _They should call this place distraction and misdirection_ , Nick thought. It was a fleeting observation, though, because he still had Kelly’s hand in his and the gorgeous idiot was heading straight for one of the few empty tables in the place.

“Here’s how this is going to work,” Kelly said when they’d claimed two stools around a small high-top. Fingers tracing Nick’s hairline and lips brushing his ear, Kelly gave his orders. “You’re going to go get us drinks and then we’re going to dance until you are so turned on you’ve forgotten you ever worked with the police let alone that  you’ve got one minor, tiny piece of unfinished business with them.”

Nick felt Kelly’s lips and tongue trace a line of his neck and closed his eyes, letting himself sink into the sensation.

“Got it?” Nick didn’t even have to look at Kelly to see the grin on his face. It was obvious in his voice. He was feeling mighty pleased with himself right now.

Nick turned his head and asked against Kelly’s lips, “You gonna make it worth the effort?”

“Don’t I always?” Kelly kissed him, grabbing his face and holding him in place and completely taking over. Nick couldn’t hear Kelly’s groan over the music, but he felt the vibration against his lips. It pulled a similar sound from Nick, one that he was kind of glad no one else could hear.

When Kelly finally released him, Nick cleared his throat and nodded, running his thumb along his tingling bottom lip.

“Be right back then.” Nick kissed him one more time and slid off the stool.

He went to the bar to pick up drinks. As Nick wound through the crowd he thought he saw someone do a double-take as he passed. Appreciative looks and pick-ups were not uncommon for him, but this reaction had seemed different. Surprise. Shock. Maybe a little anger in the split-second Nick had caught the kid’s face. When he looked again, though, no one met his eyes.

Maybe paranoia, maybe not. Shit. He scanned again and tried to find the face he’d seen to get a better look and see if he recognized it. There was no one even remotely familiar. Nothing he could do about it without something a little more solid to go on than a strange glance.

Heading back to Kelly a few minutes later—drinks in hand—he scanned the crowd, watching for any other reason for his gut to be bitching at him that something was off.

“Problem?” Kelly asked, his eyes jumping through the crowd behind Nick.

“Doubt it. Thought someone recognized me and didn’t look too happy about it.”

Kelly only relaxed a little, but he still smirked. “Spurned ex?”

“If he was, it wasn’t memorable enough for me to even remember his face.”

“Good answer, babe.”  Kelly grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him in for a quick kiss before picking up his tumbler and downing his entire drink like a shot. “Come find me when you’re done with that, Lucky.”

Then, with a wink and a grin, Kelly slipped through the crowd and disappeared onto the pulsing dance floor.

“Little fucker,” Nick said fondly, downing his drink as fast as Kels had and quickly following his path through the throng. 

Nick may have had a slight height advantage on most of the people in the crowd, but Kelly was just the right size to blend in and disappear. He was good at that when he wanted to be. It made nights like this all the more fun.

People brushed up against him and wrapped their hands around his waist, trying to pull Nick into the dance, but he slithered out of their grasp every time. There wasn’t a single person in the crowd as enticing as the idiot playing hide-and-go-seek with him in the middle of a nightclub. Usually it took a while for the game to end and for Kelly to let Nick find him. Tonight either Nick was on his A-game or Kelly’s patience wasn’t as long as usual because they found each other before the next song started pumping through the sound system.

“Hey, sailor.” Nick slid his hands around Kelly’s waist and slid his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.

Kelly shook his head. “I’m not saluting you if that’s where you’re going with this.”

“No?” Nick smirked and shifted one hand to the front of Kelly’s jeans, tracing the outline of what he found there with strong, nimble fingers.

Kelly sucked in a sharp breath and moved closer. “Exhibitionist.”

Nick laughed. “That should not be a shock to you anymore, babe.” 

“It isn’t.”

“You complaining then?”

“Fuck no.” Kelly dug his fingers into Nick’s hair and kissed him hard, smashing their lips together with more heat than finesse. Nick groaned and moved his hand to the back of Kelly’s head, directing the kiss, letting it ebb and rise with the beat of the music. He wasn’t sure if the people he could feel around them were watching or not and, honestly, Nick didn’t give a shit. Not when he had Kelly wrapped around him like an anaconda.

Eventually the heated kiss morphed into only slightly less heated dancing with Kelly’s limber body moving in ways Nick never had been able to comprehend. Comprehension was in no way necessary for appreciation, though. And damn was he willing to show his appreciation for the way he rolled his hips and twisted his body and made every single soft touch of his fingers against Nick’s skin feel sensuous and sinful. Nick didn’t hear the music after a while, just felt the beat and Kelly’s writhing body. His mind was too occupied picturing a similar beat and a similar Kelly just back on his boat, on the bed, and with significantly less clothing between them.

“Can you keep yourself occupied for a minute?” Kelly left a lingering kiss just under Nick’s ear.

“Why? You got something better to do?”

“No. But I have to take a piss before I drag your ass out of this place and make you do illegally delicious things to me.”

Nick laughed and kissed Kelly. “Keeping saying things like that and you’re gonna get us arrested. Again.”

“That only almost happened twice!” Kelly insisted in mock offense before winking and slipping out of Nick’s hold.

Grinning like the smitten jackass he was, Nick stood still in the middle of the undulating crowd and watched Kelly move until he disappeared down the dark hall that lead to the bathroom.

Of course, that was exactly when the all too familiar cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against Nick’s back.

“Walk, pig,” a scratchy voice grunted in his ear.

 _Shit_ , Nick thought.  _Kelly is going to kill me._

Following the nudging directions of the gun, Nick walked down the same hallway Kelly had just walked. When he turned his head to stare at the bathroom door—both hoping for and dreading the door opening and Kelly appearing there—Nick caught a glimpse of two more guys behind him. They weren’t right on his tail, but close enough. And walking a little  _too_ nonchalantly to be believable.

The guy behind him must have caught his look at the bathroom because he snorted. “Let’s leave your boyfriend out of this, huh? What he doesn’t see won’t make me have to kill him.”

Nick’s annoyance boiled over into rage. Not the red-hot anger that pushed him into stupid decisions but the cold, cool fury that sharpened every sense and each individual detail until Nick could almost make himself believe he had eyes in the back of his head. If these fuckers hurt Kelly, no one would ever find their bodies.

If they hurt Nick? Well, God help them if Kelly ever figured out who they were.

At the end of the hall was a door leading to the alley out back. It should have been alarmed, but either the building’s owner hadn’t kept up with maintenance, the whole club was shady, or these guys had been smart enough to come back and disarm the thing.

Nick made a mental note to check it out if he survived the next ten minutes.

There was a floodlight in the alley, but it didn’t cover the whole space. The gun nudged Nick toward the swath of darkness and Nick realized these guys were not quite as stupid as he might have hoped they would be. They weren’t masterminds, but this was also obviously not their first time crossing into moral morasses. And if one of them had a gun, chances were more than good that the other two were armed too.

 _I am so done with this shit_.

Once they were swathed in shadows, the one behind Nick pushed the barrel of the gun into the base of Nick’s skull, pushing harder and harder until Nick finally got the point and sank to his knees. It was probably an inappropriate time for Nick to realize that the little space between his skull and his spine seemed an oddly perfect fit for this particular model gun.

“You’re going to back off this case and just retire, old man,” one of them walked in front of Nick. He tried to get a look at his face, but he’d pulled the hood of his coat up. Nick couldn’t see a thing. “This town ain’t yours to play in anymore. Hear me?”

Nick saw a shadow shift behind the fucker and started smiling.

The last thing he expected was an iron-knuckled fist to connect with the side of his face. He fell forward, his hands sliding on the damp, cold concrete. His skin tore and burned and his entire face was a wash of white-hot pain. His ears were ringing and he spat blood. Shaking his head to clear it, Nick laughed.

"Oh, son,” Nick drawled, letting the Boston in his accent come out to play in full force. “You just made the biggest mistake of your short life.”

They never heard Kelly coming.

The gun left Nick’s skull and he heard something solid thud against the wall. When he turned to look, his vision blurred and white spots danced in front of his eyes, but he could still see Kelly turning away from the idiot who’d dared pull a gun on the Devil Doc’s boyfriend. Kelly spun and kicked, his booted foot solidly connecting with the iron fist’s chest. The big thug _oofed_  and went down, but he wasn’t out. Nick pushed to his feet, fighting the dizziness that blow to the head left him with, but Kelly had it more than handled.

The one who’d warned Nick off tried to run.

“No fucking way, asshole,” Kelly muttered, running after the guy. He body slammed him into the wall, grabbing his arm and spinning him around, shoving him toward Nick. Nick tried to get ready to restrain the idiot, but he didn’t need to. Kelly landed a single blow on the back of his neck that jerked the guy’s head back as he fell forward, landing on a pile of trash bags next to the dumpster.

Gun guy was still out for the count, but iron fist was back on his feet, obviously trying to decide if he could run fast enough to get away from the ninja who’d descended on them from the darkness. Nick watched Kelly prowl closer, each step sinuous and slinky and dangerous and fucking hot as hell. Kelly who opponents always underestimated. Kelly who could survive shit worse than most people ever dreamed of and then come home and goof off with a camp full of needy kids. Kelly who was as smart as he was quick. Kelly who, Nick knew, would gladly kill all three of these fuckers for laying a hand on someone he loved.

That was Kelly.  _His_  Kelly.

“You really shouldn’t have hit him,” Kelly growled.

The guy sputtered half-threats and abject apologies. Kelly ignored them both.

“Give me your weapons or I drop you like I did your friends over there.” His voice was even, almost conversational. It made the whole thing a little more eerie.

Iron fist was just as stupid as his friends. He swung at Kelly and it was over. Kelly grabbed his wrist and spun, yanking the shoulder out of joint and flipping the bigger guy over his back to slam into the pavement. Then, finally, he didn’t get up again. He was still conscious and crying in pain, but he didn’t bother trying to run.

Then there was just Kelly standing over three guys who each had at least thirty pounds on him. Three guys he’d taken out in seconds without so much as a scratch that Nick could see. He stood there looking at all of them, his hands clenched in fists at his side. He stood so still Nick didn’t even think he was breathing.

“Nick, tell me you’re all right or I might have to murder someone.”

“I’m good, Kels.” The words came out slightly slurred—fuck his head hurt—but they were enough, apparently.

The breath that finally escaped was a mix of relief and pain. In two long steps, Kelly was by Nick’s side, his hands gently cradling his face and his lips pressed against Nick’s unbruised cheek. “Jesus, Nicko. I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”

“I’m okay,” Nick whispered, leaning into Kelly’s hold and letting his lover support some of his weight. His head was still spinning and Nick didn’t want to risk falling and making it worse. “I’m okay.”

“Bullshit. You’re hurt and you’re not okay.”

He had a point. Nick’s head really was starting to throb now. “Whatever. Drug me up and give me an ice pack, Doc. I’ll be fine in the morning.” 

“Shut up and give me your handcuffs, Lucky.”

“Now is probably not the time for your kink to come out,” Nick drawled even as he handed over the cuffs.

Taking them, Kelly dragged the one with the gun closer to iron fist and cuffed their wrists together. The other guy wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. He was too busy cradling his dislocated arm and weeping for a hospital. As soon as Kelly was sure neither of the unconscious thugs would sneak up on them, he strode back to Nick and reattached himself to Nick’s side. Running his nose along Nick’s cheek and breathing deep.

“You know, I like it a lot better when I’m the one putting you on your knees.” Kelly made the comment absently, but Nick felt the undercurrent of fear that Nick knew all too well. More than once he’d seen one of their team almost lose their lives. That wasn’t something you just shook off.

“Yeah. I like it better that way too, babe.” Sirens wailed in the distance. Not that distant, actually. And they were getting closer. More than one car. “You already called dispatch?”

Kelly shook his head, but his hands never left Nick’s face. “I called Hagan and just told him to get his lazy ass to Flashpoint to help you. I think he assumed the worst.”

“Yeah, well, given what he knows about me and you and us when we go pretty much anywhere together, that wasn’t really a stupid conclusion on his part.”

“Point,” Kelly said, finally starting to smile a little. “You’re gotta not do that to me again, okay?”

“That’s kind of the point of retiring, Kels.”

“Yeah. But you gotta actually  _get_  to retirement for that to work, Nicko.”

Nick grimaced. “Point.”

In the street, the flashing lights bounced off the dark walls and Nick knew reinforcements were about to arrive.

“They mentioned a case,” Kelly said. “Your case? This last one?”

“Could be.” Nick kicked the toe of his boot into the ribs of the asshole who’d slammed those iron knuckles into his head. He didn’t move. Kelly really had obliterated the guy. The realization was more than a little satisfying. “Guess we’ll find out once we ID them.”

Kelly nodded and held Nick tighter, not once letting go as the alley became almost as crowded as they club they’d left behind.

~*~

It took a couple of hours to clear everything up.

The three who’d tried to jump Nick were rising soldiers of a gang so new they hadn’t even registered on the department’s radar yet. Nick’s vic was actually one of theirs and the reason he couldn’t get a solid lead on the case was because none of this kid’s family knew what he was actually doing with his days. He’d covered his tracks so well Nick hadn’t even suspected his level of involvement with organized crime. In fact, if these three hadn’t recognized Nick from interviews he’d done with the victim’s family, the department might never have cleared this case.

Nick had refused an ambulance, taking an ice pack instead and insisting that Kelly would keep watch on him. Kelly had, only slightly reluctantly, agreed.

Finally, well after midnight, Hagan gave them the all-clear to head home. Kelly watched Hagan hand over Nick’s handcuffs, his eyes lingering on the silver bracelets. Whatever was going on in that twisted head of his, he at least waited until Hagan was out of the room to speak.

"So this means the case is over, right? It’s over and you’re done."

Nick nodded, making sure the ice pack moved with his head. “A few tiny loose ends to cut off but, yeah. Pretty much. I’m done.” It was odd how most of what he felt when he said those words was relief. He thought he’d take a little longer than this to get used to the idea of not being a cop anymore.

"Fantastic. In that case, those handcuffs?” Kelly asks, one eyebrow high. “You don’t use those on anyone but me after tonight. Deal?”

The look Kelly gave him was so heated that Nick had to swallow before he managed to answer. “Deal.”


End file.
